IGI Global Offers Free Access to "Designing Collaborative Activities to Promote Understanding and Problem-Solving"

Ideas have sex. Well, at least that is what Matt Ridley said in his TED Talk about the interchange of ideas. Ridley argues that it is the meeting and mating of ideas that propels progress. Just as basic to human nature as reproduction, Clay Shirky argues, is our desire to use what he calls cognitive surplus to work together toward our common good. What Ridley and Shirky are talking about is collaboration.

While collaboration and cooperation are often used synonymously, distinguishing these two terms is particularly helpful. Cooperation can be thought of as working in isolation on the same project. While collaboration, on the hand, means that each member of the team contributes to and revises each piece of the final product. Rather than working in isolation, the group works together through discussion, revision, and production of the entire project, not just individual pieces.

During the month of March, IGI Global is offering free access to the article "Designing Collaborative Activities for Understanding and Problem Solving." In the article, Dr. Barbara M. Hall synthesizes findings from the vast number of research studies that examine more narrowly focused aspects of collaborative learning.

IGI Global is one of the leading publishers of books, journals, and databases on information and computer science technology applied to business and public administration, engineering, education, medicine and healthcare, and social science. They are now offering FREE lifetime e-access with all print journal subscriptions.

For more information on these products, contact Christopher Burke, burke@amigos.org or 800-843-8482, ext. 2805.